I recently switched to a new PC and decided to use an external SSD instead of having a dedicated internal drive. I bought the Crucial X9 Pro 4TB Portable SSD, which has great reviews. I used a file copying program called RichCopy to transfer files because it's reliable for handling large amounts of data.
However, after copying 1.48TB of data to the SSD, I noticed that it showed 2.96TB used, which seems way too high. I've checked the folders one by one and while they mostly match in size, there are a few discrepancies where one folder has a file that the other doesn't.
I'm wondering if this is strange behavior caused by the SSD's file system, since it's using exFAT while my internal HDD uses NTFS. I have a few theories: 1) Could it be some phantom data that's taking up space? 2) Is it an issue with the different file systems? 3) Or is my SSD possibly defective? Any insights would be appreciated!
3 Answers
There can be a lot of differences in how data is stored between NTFS and exFAT. For instance, exFAT might waste more space for small files, which could explain your issue. If you're copying over a lot of small files, switching to NTFS will likely save you space.
You might also have some hidden files or caches from the copying process that haven’t cleared yet. Consider using a disk analysis tool like WinDirStat or WizTree to get a clear picture of what's actually taking up space on your SSD. It could pinpoint where all that space is going.
Oh, good idea! I’ll definitely look into that and see if I can find any hidden files.
It sounds like you might be hitting the minimum allocation size limits of exFAT. When files are small, the drive might be reserving more space than the actual size of the files due to how exFAT allocates disk space. Formatting the SSD to NTFS could help reduce that wasted space since it generally has a smaller allocation unit size.
So if I format it using NTFS, I should see a more accurate size? Just right-click and choose format, right?
Is there any downside to switching to NTFS? I plan to use this SSD mainly for backup.